Washington, D.C. – Exorbitant price tags for specialty medications are taking a serious financial toll on state budgets. A newanalysisreleased yesterday from the California Association of Health Plans (CAHP) shows that treating only 10 percent of 175,000 patients in state-funded health care programs with just three hepatitis C medications would cost California roughly $1-2 billion.

“No budget – public or private – can sustain drugmakers’ exorbitant prices, and this latest report is case in point,” John Rother, President of the National Coalition on Health Care and leader of the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing said in a statement. “Improving patient access to these lifesaving medications will require pharmaceutical companies to confront that reality and work with all stakeholders to advance a sustainable pricing solution,” he said.

“With a host of potentially six-figure priced drugs due to hit the market this year, this report shows how just one new treatment can blow a hole in state and federal budgets,” Charles Bacchi, CAHP President and CEO, said in a statement released with the report. “These findings illustrate that this pricing trend is not sustainable for our state, its taxpayers and our public programs.”